MoCo's Framework

Montgomery County is preparing to become Montgomery City. The county is working on a new general plan for the county to replace the one it original wrote in 1964 - and refined in 1993. The new plan, the "Framework for Planning in the Future," promotes urbanized centers as opposed to auto-friendly suburbs. Of course, urban usually means less cars, more pedestrians and more bicycles - which requires changing roads.

In addition to promoting development of urbanized "centers," the draft document envisions turning some of the county's big roads into "boulevards" that would be more appealing to pedestrians and less like highways.[Planning Board Chairman Derick] Berlage cited Rockville Pike, Georgia Avenue and University Boulevard as roads that could be redesigned to include bus lanes, bicycle paths, better landscaping and wider sidewalks.

I think it's wise for MoCo to prepare for the inevitable population increases they're going to continue to see. (I think they ought to rethink the ICC before it's too late. A real urban area would not build a highway, but rather a rail corridor). The plan has as one goal to

Better connect the surrounding neighborhoods to retail, public buildings and transit by foot or bicycle, reducing the need to drive to the center.

They have some good ideas about how to do that, like

Creating more street connections from surrounding neighborhoods, so that people don’t use the major arterials and highways for local trips, and more trips are made by bicycle and on foot. (See this post on RPUS about how important connections are. Though he doesn't mention bikes, I know which neighborhood I'd rather ride in).

and

Providing pedestrian and bicycle amenities such as bike racks and lockers, special pavement and lighting so that non-motorized people know they are welcome.

And they recognize that "narrow sidewalks are not bicycle friendly" - true, bikes do not belong on sidewalks. It's dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians - so they talk about bicycle sidepaths (which I don't care for unless there really is no other option) and bike lanes. But they're still missing critical elements.

They need to start from the bottom up. They need to make sure they don't force out small neighborhood bike shops with big box retailers. They need to provide not just parking, but shower facilities, bike maps, and bike related signage. They need to think about bike rentals. If they build bike lanes - they need to be wide with room in the door zone. And they need to integrate bikes into rail and bus transit as well as roads. They're plan is still too road centered in my opinion. But it's a good point to start from.

What else did I miss?

Comments

[robert villacres]

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